Celestial Lance

 The mist hung in the air like a blanket, clinging tightly to the Harmony and its gauntlet of CLOPs. The sun was hidden behind a maelstrom of clouds, all of them circling the Harmony. A storm was on the horizon, one of the ponies’ own make.

 A green column linked the Harmony’s upper reaches to the swirling clouds above: Time Turner’s link to the two probes. It was like a beacon shining in the dark, calling to the enemies around them.

 That was the reason behind the scrambling of all the Harmony’s CLOPs. If the Invaders did decide to attack, they’d have a surprise waiting for them. CLOPs of all shapes and sizes hung in the air, blue glows where the antigravity drives worked hard to keep them afloat.

 “This is getting boring,” Rainbow Dash muttered, leaning back in her seat. “It’s been two hours and we haven’t seen a single bozo. Can’t we go back inside and at least be warm?” The temperature in the CLOP had lowered significantly in the time spent outside.

 “Well, we gotta protect the Harmony,” Pinkie pointed out. “Without you, who’s gonna lead us through thick and thin? After all, you are Rainbow Dash.”

 “True,” she said. “I guess you guys should be lucky I’m here.”

 Still, Dash couldn’t help but sigh. It really was boring out here. Just mist and the threat of rain.

***

 “Good news, everypony! We’re almost at 90% completion of the mapping,” Time Turner said. “We should be able to leave pretty so–”

 A beeping cut into his train of thought, and he looked down. “Incoming enemy signal. Twelve of them.”

“Twelve against an army?” Rainbow Dash’s voice echoed in the chamber. “Foal’s play. I can take ’em all on myself.”

 “I don’t think you can,” Twilight interrupted. “Two of them have the same power signature as Senric and Perplex’s platforms. They might be Champions.”

***

“I can still take ’em,” Dash said, pushing forward on the movement lever. “Let’s go!”

 The CLOPs began to move as one entity, closing in on the mist-wrapped shades of the incoming enemy units. Long-range platforms raised their weapons and began to open fire, red and blue maser bolts streaming towards the silhouettes.

 One of the larger enemies shot forward. “Fear the Aegis, Grawlix!” he bellowed, angling a shield to deflect the bolts.

 Explosions blossomed in the sky as the maser bolts betrayed their owners and pierced their iron shells. The other larger enemy joined its companion, a great and terrible looking machine with large fangs and claws on its limbs.

 “Calm down, Grawlix. You’re forgetting to make room for the claws of Alvina!”

 Grawlix was a squashed, angular thing. His machine was practically a box with arms and legs, with a snarling face carved into the front. In both arms, he clutched a shield, one round and the other shaped like a reverse teardrop. The round one was reflective, which he had just used to great success. The kite shield on the other hand seemed to be just a chunk of steel, useful for little more than bludgeoning.

 Alvina, however, was a sleek and deadly-looking CLOP. She resembled a leaping panther, claws extended and ready for battle. A whip-like tail snapped back and forth. Judging from the three-pronged tip, it was for more than just show.

 Rainbow Dash fired a quick shot at Alvina, but Grawlix leapt in front of her and brought his left-hand shield up to reflect it back at the pegasus’ machine. Dash managed to duck below the blast, but not quick enough to avoid slight damage. The top of her cockpit bubbled and warped with the radioactive heat of the maser.

 Extending an armblade, Dash swung at the pair. Grawlix raised his right-hand shield and parried the blow, knocking the other CLOP off-balance. With a swing of his left arm, he slammed Dash in the chest with the round shield. She flew backwards, tumbling head over heels. Firing her retrorockets, Dash managed to stop herself before she ran into the Harmony.

 “Okay,” she said. “This is gonna take some actual planning.”

 Grawlix dropped his guard for a moment to laugh. “I thought you were supposed to be tough, those who sent Perplex bawling home to his mommy. Instead, all I got were weaklings.”

 “I think it’s less them being weak than it is you just being too powerful for them,” Alvina purred. “I think it’s admirable how well they fight despite overwhelming odds. It’s… cute.”

 Rain began to fall, steaming as it landed on the hot steel bodies of the lance platforms. Flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder soon followed. The two enemy platforms hovered in the air, staring across an invisible line at the small force of CLOPs that had regrouped.

 “The rain…” muttered Grawlix, his voice low and thoughtful. “It has been too long since I have seen it.”

 Rainbow Dash clutched her right arm, sparks scattering in the rain from where the impact of the armblade against the shield had twisted it. She couldn’t remember a time her mech had been this badly damaged. It didn’t seem like much, but she knew from watching her pilot friends that water and open wounds, so to speak, did not go well together.

 A bolt of lightning arced downwards, striking Grawlix’s reflective shield. Instead of bouncing off like the maser bolts, it instead wrapped itself around the machine’s arm, blackening the surface. With a strangled grunt, he swatted his arm, causing the shield to tilt slightly.

 Dash’s eyes lit up as a spark of inspiration shot through her brain. She smiled and tapped a button on the console in front of her.

“Rainbow Dash, your shields are down. Is something wrong?” Spike’s voice drifted to her ears, muffled like it was coming through gauze.

 “Nope. Nothin’ at all,” she replied, smile growing. “Heads up!”

 With a crackle, her antigravity boosters kicked in, sending her flying towards the boxy mech in front of her.

 “What are you doing?” Grawlix bellowed, frozen in sheer confusion.

 His guard down, he was unable to react quickly enough to bat away Dash. She slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his thick torso.

 “I’m a pegasus, loser. We know weather like the back of our wings. To put it another way – I am in the lightning, I am the thunder!”

 Lightning flashed, and Dash drove her armblades into Grawlix’s mech. The bolt struck her mech, centre-mass. Arcing through her mech’s systems and down the armblades, the lightning entered Grawlix’s machine. Smoke began to filter through its vents, and small explosions began to go off inside. Releasing her grip, Dash fell backwards.

 “Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie shouted, hardly more than a squeak. She pushed forward on the levers, shooting towards the falling CLOP.

 “Grawlix!” Alvina cried, sheathing her claws and grabbing the blackened box-mech. “Are you alright?”

 Pinkie Pie collided with Dash, grabbing the other mech in her arms. Her antigrav boosters sputtered at the extra weight. For a moment they hung in the air, embracing each other. Then, the weight of Dash’s CLOP took its toll, and the boosters went out with a literal bang. The two spiraled downwards, out of sight.

 “You filthy ungulates,” Alvina growled as she released Grawlix, who joined the two ponies in a rapid descent to earth. “I’ll kill you all!”

 Twilight snapped her head towards Lyra, who was seated in a chair across the room from the map. “Lyra! Are the forward cannons charged?”

 “Uh…” The mint green pony wiped sweat from her brow and leaned in. “They’re at quarter-cell capacity right now due to the link column, but we can still fire them.”

 Twilight lowered her head, deep in thought. Quarter-cell was barely enough to dent the average enemy CLOP, much less a Champion CLOP. But still, it might give them the advantage needed to survive these crucial last minutes.

 And then there was the case of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, tumbling towards the surface. If they were to return during the bombardment, they might get hurt or worse. Dash’s fool maneuver put them all at risk.

 Still, she had to admit it brought forth good results. The biggest threat on the battlefield had been taken out, and the other in-service CLOPs had destroyed the other small fish.

 “Fire them,” she said, raising her head. “We can’t afford to lose at this crucial a moment. Fire all forward cannons!”

 Lyra nodded, and began to punch buttons on her console. “Aye aye. Firing forward cannons on your mark.”

 “Fire.”

 Silently, the forward cannons began to fire, blue trails following the equally blue balls of plasma. Striking Alvina’s mech, they detonated, plasma licking at the grey paint. Some plasma shells exploded early, filling the air with blue clouds.

 Alvina laughed. “Firing low power plasma shells? You must be hurting for ideas. Time to show you the wrath of Alvina the terrible!”

 Claws out, the leopard shot forward, swiping at the nearest pony CLOP. The claws sliced it into three parts, each part hanging in the air a moment before detonating. It was almost comical, had it not been for the loss of life.

 Snarling, she turned towards the remaining platforms. They scattered, each squeezing off a shot. Alvina dodged most of them, her mech a blur. A few struck home, sending her slightly off-balance. The final blast sent her spinning. Retros firing, she broke out of the spin, only to be hit by another shell from the Harmony. It knocked her upside down, antigravity booster making a keening wail of complaint.

 She looked down. Despite its weakness, the shell had impacted where her armour was weak from a maser bolt, tearing open a large hole in her side. White liquid dripped from the wound, staining the surrounding metal.

 Another shell exploded nearby, and Alvina raised an arm to shield herself. “Blasted horses! I will remember this day… I will remember your faces. The Arctic Circle will return to repay vengeance tenfold!”

 Alvina spun around and sped off, leaving behind a trail of white fluid and the blue afterimage of her engines.

 “Alright, team,” crackled Spitfire’s voice over the radio. “Looks like we’re done here. Who wants to volunteer to go check on Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie?” Dead silence. “Okay, looks like it’s up to me then. Get back to the ship and rest up, guys. I’ll take care of the heavy lifting.”

 “Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie asked, staring at the charred mech cradled in her arms. “Are you alright?”

 For the longest time there was no response. Then a hiss of static and a voice came from the speaker. “I don’t think so. Smells like bacon in here, and I can’t figure out what it – Ohhhh, it’s me. I’m the bacon.”

“Can you move?”

 “Kinda. One leg is. Oh, wait, you meant on my own. Nope. Did I mention how I smell like bacon?”

 “Hold on, I’m sure they’re coming for us.”

“Of course they are, babe. Ship can’t run without us. We’re the unstoppable team. Dashie and Pinks, alien fighters extra… extra… Uhhh, that one word Rarity always uses to describe her shop.”

 “Extraordinaire?”

“That’s the one!” Dash coughed. “Gettin’ dark in here, Pinkie. Still smells like bacon.” Her voice was slurred and slow, making Pinkie’s heart stop for a moment.

 “Hold on, Dash! They’re almost here!” She looked up, seeing Spitfire’s fiery mech descending.

 “Yeah, I’m holdin’, I’m holdin’…”

 The hiss of static replaced Dash’s voice.

 “Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!”

 Silence.

***

 “Did we collect good data?” Twilight asked. She felt exhausted, though she wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like she did anything but sit around and bark orders during the fight. And yet she felt like she had been there on the frontlines.

 “Oh, very, very good data,” Time Turner said with a titter. “We got both a starchart and a rudimentary map of the area. There were low clouds in a few places that cover the map, but we can fix that!” He sighed. “I’m still processing the starchart, but according to the map, there’s a base of some kind nearby. It’s close to a canyon of some sort. We might be able to raid it and access its computers to find out where the enemy capital is.”

 “That sounds pretty risky.” Twilight walked over to where he stood, and looked over his shoulder at the glowing green map of the area. “Is it that thing right there?”

 He nodded. “That would be the base. From what I can tell, it’s small and relatively undefended,” he said, blowing up the image so Twilight could see better. It was a small structure, built into the ground and covered in snow. “We should be able to attack with little problem. It’s the response that worries me.”

 Now it was Twilight’s turn to nod. “If they take up a reprisal, we won’t be able to defend ourselves if we’re busy with the base.”

 A beep interrupted the two, and Time Turner tapped button. The map dissolved into a map of the stars. Text scrolled over the stars, but Twilight couldn’t decipher it. Her eyesight wasn’t the greatest anymore and she desperately needed to dig her glasses out of storage.

 Time Turner’s brow furrowed and he started to mutter to himself. “This can’t be right. I was sure of the portal… No, it is right. I can’t believe it!”

 “What is it?” Twilight said, exasperated at his mutterings.

 “This starchart… is of our own constellations. It matches the stars of the Crystal Empire, give or take a few dozen degrees of latitude.”

 “That’s not possible. We both checked the portal. The energy readings were big enough that it could only lead to another world. It can’t lead back to our own!”

 “But it does.” Time Turner laughed. “What a twist this is. Not even Cob Serling could come up with a better ending.”

***

 “Another day, another failure in the realm of the Champions,” growled Mundus as Alvina limped out of the Emperor’s chambers. “If they are so incompetent, why do we continue to entertain them?”

 “We entertain because they are entertaining,” Kyrie said, draped on her couch. The vulpine diamond dog twitched her nose, giggling. “Do you remember when Chester spilt milk all over Senric and the two had a blood feud for weeks? It was all I could do to not laugh.”

 “I believe I was a general by that time, while you were yet to be uplifted by our gracious Emperor, so no I do not.”

 “I remember.” Kyrie pouted, crossing her arms. “I remember, and it was funny.”

 “If they were scanning the area like I predicted, they must have found Alkali Lake by now,” Terinth chirped. “General Mundus, I request permission to take a Champion and my jiarch Obsidian to the base there and ambush them when they arrive.”

 Mundus opened his mouth, ready to agree, when the scraping of the ceremonial blade on the floor cut him off.

 “You may ambush them after they arrive,” the Emperor said.

 “After?” parroted Terinth. “After? You must be joking, Lord Emperor. If I arrive after, they might finish before we can get there. And then our Capital will be laid bare, like a bride on her honeymoon! I must arrive before, so I can crush them in your name.”

 “You may ambush them. After they arrive.”

 Terinth hopped up and down on Fletch’s head, shaking with indignant rage. “After? After! After! Before! Before, before or nothing!”

 “After, or your shoulders will sorely miss their head.” The Emperor’s voice held no hint of falsehood.

 Terinth froze, eyes wide as he stared at the unmoving Emperor. “V-very well,” he managed after a long while. “I will take Senric Seablade and ambush them as they leave, your eminence.”

 “You need not worry if they reach the capital or not, my Generals,” the Emperor rumbled. “All that you need worry about is your own survival. I have foreseen the coming of these days, since we made the pact with the Dark King Sombra against the Nightmares. Have no fear, for I know the future of our races.”

 With that, his blade returned to his lap, and his head lowered.

 Kyrie tsked at Terinth. “What an unseemly show. Perhaps you should calm down next time and show the Emperor some respect.”

 Terinth said a rather rude word, and hopped off Fletch’s head, flying away to his chambers.

 “You may be the youngest and newest of the Generals,” Fletch said slowly, as was his custom. “But he is the most impetuous.”

 Kyrie smiled and stretched. “Why, thank you. I didn’t expect to hear my own thoughts confirmed like that.”

 “Fletch, you know of all our bases. What about Alkali Lake has Terinth’s feathers in such a flurry?” Mundus eyed the caribou cautiously. Fletch was notorious for being reticent when it came to such things.

 Fletch sighed and shook his head. “Alkali Lake has our greatest technological treasure. The Polar Ansible. With it, our Capital will be revealed to them, and our innermost plans.”

 Mundus nodded sagely, mind wandering. If such a thing was true, then he hoped that Terinth and Senric Seablade could defend Alkali Lake as they would the capital. It wouldn’t do to let such a prize fall into the wrong hands. Or, in this case, hooves.